MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. The Ukrainian forces have violated the ceasefire regime 38 times over the last 24 hours, including with heavy weaponry, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) defence ministry said on Monday.

"The Ukrainian side has violated ceasefire regime 38 times over the last 24 hours. The enemy continues using artillery," the Donetsk News Agency quoted the DPR defence ministry as saying.

Ten artillery and 35 tank shells were fired, along with 64 mines of 82mm and 120mm caliber, the defence ministry added. Anti-tank weapons, grenade launchers and small arms were also used.

The Donetsk airport and the settlement of Spartak were hit the hardest. The Ukrainian forces also intensively shelled Kievsky and Petrovsky districts of Donetsk and the town of Gorlovka, along with the settlements of Vasilyevka, Belaya Kamenka and Kalinovka.

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Minsk agreements on Ukraine

The Minsk accords on the Ukrainian settlement were signed on February 12, after negotiations in the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The talks lasted for around 14 hours. Simultaneously, a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukrainian settlement was held in Minsk.

The Minsk agreements envisage ceasefire, heavy weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local elections in Donbas, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.

The Ukrainian forces and the self-defense forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics have repeatedly accused each other of violating ceasefire and other points of the Minsk agreements.